Stair and the Inleydinge of Grotius

Grotius' Inleydinge (1631) is generally considered not to have been consulted by Stair on the assumption that Stair probably could not read Dutch. This paper shows that, on the contrary, there is a good chance that Stair had some understanding of Dutch by 1693, when the second edition of the Institutions (1681) was printed. Additionally, copies were available both in Scotland and in Leyden, where Stair spent six years in exile. This paper re-evaluates whether Stair relied upon the Inleydinge through a direct textual comparison of the discussions of the law of obligations in the Institutions and the Inleydinge. This shows that there are no compelling examples which demonstrate that Stair borrowed from the Inleydinge when writing or later editing the Institutions. This paper therefore shows that modern scholarship has been correct to dismiss the Inleydinge as a source for the Institutions, but for the wrong reasons.